Strutting around London: WILLIAM TURNS 12 AND VISITS ELY CATHEDRAL, THE NATIONAL GALLERY & THE PUB. AGAIN.

Our boy turned 12 on the 10th of June. Having arrived here in late 2010 as a 9 year old, he is now almost a teenager. Heavens!

William's birthday falls on the Australian long weekend for the Queen's birthday so he often is away for it. This year was an exception. Although Sally had the day off and we were supposed to be going away, in the end a combination of a work function (subsequently called off) and all of us just being a bit weary from so many weekends away meant we stayed in town - mostly.

We had briefly visited Ely Cathedral, just outside of Cambridge, back in 2011. It impressed us and we had intended to return for a longer visit. On 'William's birthday long weekend' we drove up for another look with friends Denise and Rowley Tompsett from Australia who were staying a few nights with us. It remains one of the most beautiful cathedrals we have seen - and William will tell you we have seen a more than a few!

ceiling detail.

The first Christian building on the site was founded by St. Etheldreda, daughter of the Anglo-Saxon King Anna of East Anglia, who was born in 630. After the end of her second marriage to Ecgfrith, a prince of Northumbria, she set up and ruled a monastery at Ely in 673. When she died, on June 23, 679, possibly of a throat tumour caused by the bubonic plague, a shrine was built there to her memory.

The monastery and the whole city is generally believed to have been destroyed in the Danish invasions of the late 9th century. One relic from the 700s remains in the form of the base of a stone cross dedicated to Ovin, Etheldreda's steward.

Ovin's stone.

The present cathedral was started under William I in 1083 and survived until 1539& Henry VIII's 'Dissolution of the Monasteries'. While the cathedral suffered only minor damage, St Etheldreda's shrine was destroyed. The cathedral was soon refounded in 1541, although many of the statues in the lady chapel were severely damaged.

As with almost all the once Catholic churches in England, the stained glass windows were smashed out during the nation wide orgy of anti papist destruction of the 1530s. The beautiful windows there now are from Victorian times.

In 1322 the Norman built central tower collapsed. It was replaced by the current beautifully decorated octagonal tower.

Mark's mum playing 'peek a boo'.

Apart from the splendour of the architecture, the windows and the painting, Ely Cathedral has a variety of graffiti some being more than 300 years old. Alongside the cathedral is a house which has been there even longer.

It is almost impossible to go anywhere in England without finding something historical. What many might consider long past can be here as if it were in living memory.

There was a military commemoration service on that afternoon. As we were leaving the Cathedral Rowley's subtle Australiana drew the attention of one of the officers. It turned out that after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and winning a DSO and MC for the Australian Army he decided to join the British army. Mick is now Commanding Officer of the 1 R ANGLIAN regiment and this week received another DSO from the Queen.

The Cathedral's modern history includes various movie roles including standing in for Westminster Abbey in the film of The King's Speech. It also featured in The Other Boleyn Girl and Elizabeth:The Golden Age.

To complete the historical experience we popped into a house once lived in by Oliver Cromwell - the man who overturned the monarchy, had King Charles I executed and ended up leading the Commonwealth of England from 1653 - 58. An intensely religious man he also banned Christmas as a pagan festival. After his death from illness in 1658 he was buried in Westminster Abbey, with all the pomp of a king. After the royalists returned to power in 1660 King Charles II ordered Cromwell's corpse along with other leaders of the commonwealth and regicides ( king killers) John Bradshaw and Henry Ireton,to be dug up, hung in chains, and beheaded. Their heads were placed on a 20-foot (6.1 m) spike above Westminster Hall. There they stayed for 25 years when the pole fell down during a storm. Cromwell's head ended up in the hands of various people including distant relatives, private collectors and museum owners until 25 March 1960, when it was buried at Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge.

Considered a regicidal dictator by some and a hero of liberty by others, Cromwell was placed in a 2002 BBC poll in Britain as one of the ten greatest Britons of all time.

Mark's mum wanted to celebrate the variety of birthdays by going out. Denise and Rowley joined us as did Mark's Auntie Mary. After returning from Ely and having a suitable hour of rest, we walked to one of our local pubs, The Bald Faced Stag.

Will loves his Auntie Mary.

But we all know there is no arguing with her !

It was a fun but late night with kids being silly on the way home.

Planking.

We love Shakespeare Gardens !!!!

We had intended for the kids to have the Monday off as part of the Australian long weekend. As it turned out we didn't go away and Aisha opted to go to school. Will reminded Mark & Sally of the importance of keeping one's word and stayed at home. Rather than letting him lay about we went into central London for the day. He decided he wanted to be at Big Ben when it sounded 12 for his 12th birthday. We took in the heart of the city before walking up Whitehall, past number 10 and up to Trafalgar Square to the National Gallery to show Grandma a couple of his favourite paintings - Sunflowers by Van Gough and The Execution of Lady Jane Gray by Paul Delaroche.

That night Mary joined us for 'the great unwrapping' and dinner with cake. Will cooked his own birthday cake again - this time a lemon drizzle polenta cake.

Next year we will get him to wrap his own presents.

William received far too many presents. His enjoyment of cooking was encouraged by Auntie Mary giving a cookbook of hers from the early 80s along with copies of the Olympic and Paralympic DVDs. We gave him a couple of aprons - one from The Royal Yacht Britannia and the other from Windsor Castle.